School Education Department officials to give special orientation for teachers

MADURAI: The large number of `single subject' failures in science subject in the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examinations has worried the officials in the School Education Department here.

In the Madurai educational district alone, there were 337 students who failed in science and the results analysis showed that candidates did well in other subjects barring science.

The number of failures would be much higher in science when the educational districts of Usilampatti and Melur were also taken in to account, officials said.

Sources in the Department told The Hindu that the large number was indeed a worrisome factor and it could be due to the `inadequate number' of science teachers in schools.

Officials were now attaching importance to reduce `single subject' failures by taking up special orientation programmes for science teachers handling SSLC students and periodical unit tests for the students.

According to P.Natchiar, District Educational Officer, the schools were instructed to take steps to achieve an overall pass percentage of 70 per cent from the quarterly examinations itself.

She said there were seven schools that had less than 50 per cent pass in the SSLC public examinations this year and the subjects where more students failed in single subject were in science (337) and mathematics (81).

Officials are now expecting that teacher vacancies in schools would be filled up during the counselling to take place soon.

Mark-sheets distributed

Meanwhile, the SSLC mark-sheets were distributed to students on Wednesday.

The Madurai Corporation Education Officer, A. Rajeswari, said that students seeking admission to Corporation schools for Plus One would be thoroughly counselled to help them choose the right group.